day I went swimming with Isabel.
CHAPTER
51
“SWIM, SAMANTHA,” I HEAR MINA SAY.
But my body is a mangled bicycle, thudding against the ocean floor. I can’t swim.
“Swim, Sammy. The world is waiting for you.”
I try but I can’t. The water is too strong. It’s too deep. My heart’s going to pop like a water balloon.
“Swim, Samantha. Ahari’s coming for you.”
I open my eyes and punch the sea in the face.
Then five dark fingers wrap around my wrist and my arm snaps out of view, yanked along under Ahari’s shadow as if I’m grasping the tail of a black stallion. My eyes clamp shut again against the sting, but make no mistake—my body is sailing upward, slicing through the sea.
Up. Up. Up to a waiting world.
CHAPTER
52
“IS SHE ALIVE?”
Lynette’s scream pierces my ears. Everything hurts. The sudden sensation of being alive slams into me. Saltwater scorches my throat. My eyelids grind together like mismatched gears. As my body is transferred from one set of arms into another, my feet plant in the slushy sand and water falls from me in sheets.
“Samantha?” Lynette cradles me in her grip. She kisses my forehead and pets my face with abrasive hands. My eyes blink open and the light is blinding. But this light has limits, and it turns to sky, a sky that holds Lynette’s anguished face and Ahari’s searing gaze. When my eyes catch his, his dark eyes narrow, but then he nods and leaves. I wish he would come back.
“Oh my God, oh my God. Hi baby. Hi sugar.” Lynette crushes me against her chest. “Oh my God, Sammy, I thought—”
“Lynette, honey, let’s get her out of here.” That was Cornell. Cornell lifts me by my armpits and half drags, half carries me out of the ocean. My senses aren’t working right. Everything swirls and echoes. Blue sky. The house in the distance. My feet stumbling over the sand.
But other images flash before me, too. The dock, Kendra’s bloody foot, Isabel sinking in the dark water—slivers of visions slip through my fingers as if I’m scaling a mountain turned to sand. I can’t get a grip on what’s happening.
Isabel! Isabel’s laid out on the ground, crying, with Arshan and Jesse huddled above her.
I did it. I’m here. Isabel is here. But—
The ocean roars in defeat at my back. I am crying, too, I realize. Deep, racking cries.
Time turned back. A second chance. For Isabel. For Kendra. For me.
But something went wrong.
CHAPTER
53
THEY LIE ME ON THE SAND NEXT TO ISABEL, who immediately envelops me in her skinny arms. I feel the gritty warmth of her skin press against mine, the rapid beating of her heart and the frantic grip of her fingers. For a second, I let myself disappear in her overpowering gratitude to be alive. Just for a second.
“Where’s Mina?” My voice doesn’t sound like me. It is strangled and scratched, wind forced through a broken reed.
Isabel pulls back and cradles my cheek, her brow knotted in worry.
I sit up too fast. The world around me reels, tips off keel. I teeter to my feet anyway. “Where is she?”
Brimming with fury, I lurch back toward the ocean. My burning eyes make it painful to look at the bleached sand. An empty beach. Beyond the huddle around Isabel, I am alone on an empty beach before a mocking sea. What went wrong? What did I do wrong, Mina? I make it to the edge of the waves and my sobs pull me to the ground. I am flooded with failure, with emptiness, and remorse. Yes, I am alive. Miraculously, I am alive in a beautiful world. But it’s a world without my best friend.
Featherlight fingertips touch my shoulder.
“Sam?”
I turn reluctantly to face Isabel. The others wait a few feet behind her, every face etched with worry. I’m scaring the hell out of them. Again. Isabel squeezes my shoulder to get my attention.
“She’s gone. Mina’s gone. But Sammy—we’re alive!” Isabel looks over her shoulder at the others.
When she turns back, I get the sense she wants to say more, but she catches herself.
Lynette raises a hand to her lips and chokes back tears. Cornell pulls her to him. Jesse’s mouth is open, in shock, watching me, unsure what to do. Arshan’s frown says he’s scared, too. I look at them and then back at Isabel. I need time to think. I need to be alone. I reach up and pat Isabel’s hand. I stand up slowly and breathe in the salty air. With every body staring expectantly,